If you have ever visited the Eden Project’s Tropical Rainforest you will know how immersive an experience it can be. Walking up through through the different levels of the forest until you reach the top and can glance down. It’s incredible! We have our very own temperate rainforest here in the UK and you can experience it with Koru on our Helford Koru Kayak Adventures along Frenchman’s Creek. We glide under the canopy of trees in our kayaks and can look up through to the top. Small waterfalls feed rainwater into the creek, but dip you hand in the water and you will find it has a salty taste and seaweed as sea water floods into the river and creeks twice a day, as the ice age led to flooded valleys like the Helford.
The Atlantic Oakwood Forest we have here are or Temperate Rainforest are colloquially known as Celtic Rainforests. They don’t need fire to regenerate, instead seedlings are able to regenerate the trees under shade and in natural openings. Most Atlantic Oakwoods in the UK that have survived are found on steep-sided slopes by rivers like the Helford. The forests on Frenchman’s Creek have avoided clearance, by preventing cattle strolling down into the mud on a low tide.
When you kayak along under the canopy of oak trees, you can see ferns and mosses growing on the bark, just like the creepers you can see growing on the tropical rainforest trees. There’s even some medical uses with these trees like their tropical relatives. The oak sap was apparently used as an antiseptic for surgical gloves and manufactured by a company in Redruth, meanwhile the more accessible oak trees were harvested to build boats.
Come and enjoy the experience this summer with Koru!
